I N S P I R A T I O N S :
Jim Coleman of Coleman Crest Farm Every now and then, you meet a person that is just, well... good. I mean “salt of the earth” good. And when Jim Coleman walked into my office at TOPS a few months ago, I knew right away he was one of those rare folks. As Jim started to narrate the history of his family-owned Black farm, I was trying to understand: why on earth did this highly successful, former Fortune 500 company executive move back home from New York City for a patch of dirt here in Kentucky? Here is the reason and the incredible story of Coleman Crest Farm. On March 27, 1888, Jim’s great grandfather, James Coleman, purchased the land that he and his parents had tilled as slaves. With the help of a loan from the Uttigertown Union Benevolent Society, Lodge #28, he purchased the parcel of land, which is known today as Coleman Crest Farm. He paid John H. Darnaby and his wife, Mary, $1,200 for the land and, as a result, set the foundation for paying for the
college education for more than 300 of his descendants over the next 130 years. During the twenty-two years after his purchase of Coleman Crest, James Coleman and his wife Lucy raised four sons – Sam, George, William, and John – and two daughters, Susie and Sallie. James Coleman was a leader in Uttingertown, a historic African American hamlet about 8 miles from downtown Lexington. He was a respected member and officer in the community church, Uttingertown Baptist Church, and of the Union Benevolent Society Lodge #28. He was a very proud man who had the vision and the wisdom to acquire and finance land through the production of profitable crops and livestock, even in the face of harsh racism and the lack of formal education. In 1910, after experiencing life as a slave and later as a successful landowner and entrepreneur, James Coleman by Jayme Jackson
August 2021 | TOPSinLex.com
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